What Is Inbound Marketing? A Beginner’s Guide

What is inbound marketing? Well, you can’t run a business without customers and customers won’t come to you if they don’t know you exist.

Inbound marketing is a clearly defined type of marketing with a focused approach to acquiring customers.

Read on to find our how you could benefit!…

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Inbound Marketing Definition

Inbound marketing is defined as a type of marketing focused on search engine optimisation (SEO), content, social media presence, and having a defined brand. To simplify inbound marketing brings the customers to you. For example, you could promote a new product or service your company is offering on social media. A customer who is looking for exactly what your company provides contacts you interested in what you’re selling. You didn’t have to seek this customer individually out or market to them directly. Inbound marketing focuses more on reaching broad (but still specific) categories of interested customers by using high-quality content.

What Is Inbound vs Outbound Marketing

When comparing marketing methods it’s important to know what each is. As inbound marketing has already been discussed let’s define outbound marketing. Outbound marketing is the terms used to define classic advertising methods. These can include direct mail (both electronic and paper), television commercials, radio ads, telemarketers, and printed ads stuffed in door frames or left on automobiles. Basically old fashioned interruptive advertising. This interruptive nature is the key difference between the two methods. Let’s compare the two.

Old Media Versus New Media: outbound marketing is notably old media and in the modern marketplace it’s easier to ignore. People don’t watch traditional television as much as they used to and streaming services are reducing the reach of commercials. The switch to cellular technology is making cold calling less effective as well. Inbound marketing leverages new technology such as social media and the Internet. In terms of using a modern format to advertise from inbound marketing easily wins.

Two Way Communication: inbound marketing is a two-way street. A potential customer can easily reply to a social media posting or a blog’s comment section and you can respond back to them. This creates a dialogue and that is a building block to a consumer relationship. Outbound marketing is one way and a potential customer can’t respond to a flyer or a commercial. The ability to get feedback from customers in real time is very valuable and something markers form several decades ago would have given endless sums of money to get, so take advantage.

Show Value: outbound marketing is often shallow, flashy, and not very deep. It’s often this way out of necessity due to the fact it’s casting a wide net and has to grab as much attention as possible. Inbound marketing you can take your time. A well thought out blog entry gives you a chance to show knowledge, expertise, and reach out to your customers. Because inbound marketing is about you and on your own terms you can show customers why they should do business with your company.

Customers’ Mood: inbound marketing starts the customer engagement process out on a good note. They saw a posting or video or something of that nature that they found interesting. They have a need and have found you the person who can sell them the solution to that need. A customer brought in by inbound marketing comes to you. Outbound marketing tries to pull people in which may create customers who are curious but they need more work to convert into a sell. The inbound customer is already interested in what you’re offering.

Examines Of Inbound Marketing

As noted above inbound marketing covers a lot of different material. Here are just some of the more popular forms it can take.

Blogs: a blog can be about a variety of topics. When writing your company’s blog you have flexibility in terms of content. The key thing to keep in mind is what you’re writing should be valuable to your readers. Topics can be about industry news, new product releases, opinion articles, lists, informative pieces, and so on. No matter what the topic make your readers feel like their time wasn’t wasted.

Social Media Posting: the sheer reach of social media speaks for itself If you want to succeed in the modern market a social media presence is key. Depending on the platform your social media postings can be articles, quick quips, pictures, or other content suitable for the platform you’re on. Likely you’re going to be using multiple platforms as part of a wider marketing strategy so there should be a common theme or tone across your various company accounts.

SEO: search engine optimisation is one of the most important parts of inbound marketing. Statistics show that most people don’t read past the first page of search engine results. A skilled inbound marketing agency can help craft your SEO approach. This assures when customers are searching for services and terms related to your business that you show up on the first page.

Videos: much like blogs videos can cover a wide range of topics. A video can be a more effective format for more advanced material where it’s easier to show a topic than tell. This also increases your reach as video viewing on the Internet is becoming a huge part of modern media consumption.

E-books: a short e-book is a great way for your company to show off your expertise. If you work in home repair a short book on common easy to fix problems around the home is a good topic. When offering such an e-book you can include contact information for your company advising readers to reach out to you for professional help with more advanced issues. This builds trust and associates your company with a topic the e-book reader is already interested in.

What Is An Inbound Marketing Agency?

Now that you have a better idea of what inbound marketing is let’s look at how you can implement it. Unless you’re a huge company who can afford your own marketing department that solely works in that field hiring outside marketing experts is probably a good idea. It’s also worth noting that even huge companies hire outside professionals because even they aren’t experts at everything.

If you need:

Increased client revenue.

More customer leads.

A higher customer retention rate.

Than an inbound marketing agency can help you achieve these goals.

Final Thoughts

As the above information shows inbound marketing is no simple thing. It is a complex and rigorous discipline that requires you have expert assistance. But the investment in outside assistance is worth it and more than pays for itself.

If you want to bring customers to you and increase both brand awareness and your share of the market an inbound marketing strategy is needed. By hiring experienced professionals you can increase sales and reach out to customers you never knew existed.

What is inbound marketing? Well, you can't run a business without customers and customers won't come to you if they don't know you exist.Inbound marketing is a clearly defined type of marketing with a focused approach to acquiring customers.